Each year, about one million people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. According to recent estimates, 40 to 50 percent of Americans who live to age 65 will have skin cancer at least once.
The two most common kinds of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Basal cell carcinoma accounts for more than 90 percent of all skin cancers in the United States. Basal cell carcinoma is a slow-growing cancer that seldom spreads to other parts of the body. Squamous cell carcinoma also rarely spreads, but it does so more often than basal cell carcinoma. However, it is important that skin cancers be found and treated early because they can invade and destroy nearby tissue. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are known as nonmelanoma skin cancer.
Another type of cancer that occurs in the skin is melanoma, which begins in the melanocytes. The American Cancer Society reports that melanoma accounts for only 4 percent of skin cancer cases, but causes about 79% of skin cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society predicts that 16 percent of the newly diagnosed cases in the year 2000 will result in death.
Medical evidence indicates that the cytokine IL-1 inhibits tumor growth. However, systemic administration is very toxic to the human body. Therefore, what is needed are methods and devices for delivering tumor inhibiting compounds without systemic toxicity.